Word: scelba
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Secure for a while at least with a small parliamentary majority, Italy's Premier Mario Scelba last week announced that he was launching a head-on assault against the nation's No. I problem-the Italian Communist Party, which is the largest, richest and most powerful in the West. The trackdown was good news to Italy's antiCommunists, many of whom have felt such a move to be long overdue. It was good news for U.S. strategists, for whom the Italian party has lately loomed as. a real threat to NATO, EDC and the basic free-world...
Good as it was, the ne,ws was nonetheless taken with some reservations about its. chances for real success. Premier Scelba's crackdown on the canny and deeply entrenched Italian Communists showed in itself a determination to meet, an issue which Italy's previous postwar Christian Democratic governments had notably avoided-with near-disastrous results. But to make the crackdown succeed, Scelba was going to need close support from his hairline majority. The question was: How determinedly will his coalition back...
Such was the man who moved in Rome's most select circles, who addressed the national chief of police Tommaso Pavone with the intimate "tu." Many of those who originally doubted La Caglio's story changed their minds. The Communists promptly trumpeted the fact that Scelba and Montagna had both been witnesses at the wedding of Spataro's son two years ago, pointed out that Scelba himself had appointed Pavone chief of police...
...Montesi affair was Premier Scelba's problem, and he faced up to it. The day after his confirmation he summoned Police Chief Pavone for a long night session, told him grimly that the government of Italy, and not the Communists, was going to break the Montesi case wide open. It did not matter who was hurt. Next morn ing Pavone resigned. Foreign Minister Pic cioni sent his resignation to Scelba, and it seemed likely that Scelba would accept it. Scelba appointed Minister Without Portfolio Raffaele de Caro, a Liberal, to make a full investigation, ordered Montagna's passport...
...boon and a tonic for sorely beset Italy. As they went about their beats this week, the carabinièri were applauded in the streets by Italians who appreciated that they had walked where other police feared to tread. "I promise to do all in my power," vowed Premier Scelba, "to clear away this shady, suspicious atmosphere that is hanging over us." Nothing could better help democracy in Italy pass from sickness into health...